Lindenmeier, 1934-1974: Concluding Report on Investigations

Abstract

The excavation and analysis of Paleo-Indian artifacts from the Lindenmeier site in northern Colorado are described in detail. The site was excavated from 1934 to 1940 by Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.; the history of these excavations is summarized. Roberts died in 1966 without completing an analysis of the excavated materials. In the same year, Wilmsen began work on the collection. The goals and strategies of the original work, as well as methods employed in the field, are reconstructed to the extent permitted by existing archival materials and publications. A detailed discussion of the physiographic features of the site location and of its Recent geologic history is presented. It is suggested that common stream meander processes are responsible for the present appearance of the site and that appeals to climatic change are unnecessary. The floral and faunal composition of the area at the time of Folsom occupation is considered in terms of preserved samples of soil, charcoal, resin, and pollen, along with molluskan and mammalian remains. A new radiocarbon age is reported and compared with an age reported previously by Haynes and Agogino (1960). These two ages are compared according to the method proposed by Long and Rippiteau (1974) and found to be indistinguishable statistically.<br/>The bulk of the report is devoted to an analysis of the stone artifacts in the collection. A method for assessing the comparability of measurements of artifacts made by different observers is introduced. This method also yields a basis for estimating the accuracy of observations and for rejecting a statistical result obtained from these observations. The artifacts are analyzed both in terms of sets of technological and functional variables and of their spatial clustering. Technologically, the artifacts are found to conform to the predictions of the wave model proposed by Speth (1972). Five major categories are defined in terms of functional variables. The spatially discrete sets of artifacts are found to be identical technologically and to possess only minor functional differences. These clusters are interpreted to be the debris remains of camps occupied periodically by socially and economically interacting units. Stylistic variation among projectile points is found to be highly significant and spatially discrete. These findings are used to support a hypothesis of social segmentation among the early inhabitants of the site.